Following are some of the major events to have occurred on January 22:
1901 – Britain’s Queen Victoria died after reigning for 63 years.
1939 – British freighter “Silverash” on fire in Brooklyn docks.
1972 – In Brussels, the Treaty of Accession to the EEC was signed by Britain, Denmark, Ireland and Norway, effective January 1, 1973.
1973 – U.S. Supreme Court rules in Roe v Wade to recognise a constitutional right to privacy that gives a woman the right to choose abortion.
1973 – Lyndon B. Johnson, Democratic U.S. president from 1963-69, died.
1997 – Bulgaria’s new President Petar Stoyanov, the first directly-elected head of state, takes office.
2000 – Ecuador Vice President Gustavo Noboa took over the presidency with backing from the military after President Jamil Mahuad was deposed in a coup the previous day.
2002 – Russia abruptly pulled plug on country’s only nationwide independent television station, giving Kremlin a monopoly of airwaves for first time since Soviet era.
2007 – Abbe Pierre, a Roman Catholic priest who renounced wealth to campaign for the homeless and became one of France’s most revered men, died aged 94.
2008 – Actor Heath Ledger, the gifted leading man acclaimed for his role as a gay cowboy in the film “Brokeback Mountain,” died aged 28.
2009 – President Barack Obama ordered the closing of Guantanamo prison in Cuba — where prisoners had been detained for years without charge, some subjected to interrogation that human rights groups say amounted to torture.
(Reuters)